There is no greater spiritual discipline than prayer. Prayer is one of the most important things you can do if you want to get closer to God. And here’s the thing: prayer is simple in the fact that it’s just talking and listening. It’s like talking to a friend. Every believer should pray and have a strong prayer life. There should be no excuses for that.
But prayer is hard because true prayer takes an investment. It takes an investment of your time and what you’re doing. We all know we’re pressed for time in the day and age that we live in. Prayer is hard because you have to be in tune spiritually. The things you do in your life have impact on your spiritual growth. If you’re out looking at all the stuff you shouldn’t be looking at, and then you try to come in and pray, there’s going to be a problem. You’re fighting with all the things of this world when you’re supposed to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, being led and guided by the Holy Spirit. Prayer is hard because it takes faith and persistence.
What the Disciples Saw in Jesus
One of the questions—in fact, the only question I really see the disciples ask the Lord about His spiritual walk—is about prayer. It’s really interesting. They saw people being raised from the dead. They saw demons being cast out. They saw people getting healed. They saw fish and bread being multiplied. They saw all these crazy things happening. But they didn’t say, “Lord, teach us how to multiply fish” or “Lord, teach us how to cast out demons.” They asked Jesus, “Teach us to pray.” They saw something in the way that He prayed.
In Luke 11:1-4, it happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” And He said to them, “When you pray, say, Father, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins. For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation.”
A lot of people have looked at the Lord’s Prayer and diagnosed it, analyzed it, and basically brought it out to a formula. I don’t think that’s what the Lord was wanting us to understand. The disciples weren’t asking for a formulaic prayer they could repeat over and over again. The fact is that they saw something in the way Jesus prayed.
Who You Are Matters in Prayer
In Genesis 20, we see the story of Abraham going down and dealing with Abimelech. Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister,” and Abimelech, king of Gerar, took Sarah. God came to Abimelech in a dream and said, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.”
What’s really interesting is what God told Abimelech to do. God didn’t say, “Abimelech, pray and I will forgive you.” He said, “Restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live.” God wanted someone who was righteous, faithful, in tune with God and obedient to God to pray. Go to Abraham, he will pray, he is a prophet.
This is important, especially in the day we live in, because there’s a lot of pseudo-spirituality out there. A lot of people who think they are spiritual or say they are spiritual, but they’re not in the position where they’re really in tune with the things of God. I always find it very interesting when people live like hell out in the world, but then they talk about how they pray. The people in Isaiah’s time, and Jesus quotes this as well: their lips say all the right things, but their hearts are far from God.
The Effective Prayer of a Righteous Person
James 5:16-18 says, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
Righteousness means being right with God. The effective prayer of a righteous person can accomplish much. This tells us we’ve got to be right with God for that prayer to accomplish a whole lot—not a prayer from someone living like hell who then comes saying, “God, I really need you to come through for me right now.”
Was Elijah perfect? No. Right after the whole altar confrontation with the prophets of Baal, after God shot down fire from heaven and burned up the sacrifice, one woman—Jezebel—scared him so much that he ran for days. He wasn’t perfect, but he was in tune with God. He listened. He was obedient. He was faithful. The key here isn’t some mumbo jumbo or formulaic prayer. It’s about a person who was in tune with God, faithful, obedient, listened, and did what was needed to be close to God. And God answered his prayer.
Learning to Pray Like Jesus
When we look at Jesus’ example, we see several things. First, Jesus found time to pray. Mark 1:35 says, “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place and was praying there.” Matthew 14:23 tells us, “After he had sent the crowds away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.” Luke 5:16 says, “But Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”
It didn’t matter what was going on. It didn’t matter how many people were around or how successful things seemed. Jesus found time to pray. He would slip away and find time in the wilderness to pray, to be at a place where He could be quiet and alone with the Father.
Second, prayer was personal and individual time with the Father. In Matthew 6:5-6, Jesus said, “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” Don’t be like the Pharisees with big prayers out in front of everybody. Go home, go to an inner closet, shut the door—just you and God.
Third, Jesus prayed when there were big decisions in life. Luke 6:12 tells us, “It was at this time that he went off to the mountain to pray. And he spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples to him and chose 12 of them, whom he also named as apostles.” Jesus knew He would leave this earth into the hands of these disciples. He needed to make sure God wanted the right ones. So He went up and spent all night in prayer. Christians should be praying before any big decision, looking for direction.
Fourth, Jesus prayed in all seasons of life, even when it was rough. In Matthew 26:38-39, in the Garden of Gethsemane, hours before being whipped, tortured, and crucified, Jesus said, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me.” And He went a little beyond them, fell on His face, and prayed. He could have asked for time to rest and get His head straight. Instead, He went to the garden to pray.
When we find ourselves in rough seasons, so many people run away from the things of God, away from prayer, away from His Word. But that is the time you should be running into prayer more. “God, I don’t understand what is happening right now. I don’t know why this is happening, but I trust you. Help me get through this. Help me understand.” In prayer, that is where things change. In prayer, God gets a hold of you. In prayer, God speaks to you and helps you understand what you need to know to move to the next step.
Fifth, Jesus believed that prayer was powerful and great things could happen when you combine faith and prayer. Matthew 21:21-22 records Jesus saying, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” Impossible things can happen. Great things, powerful things can happen when you combine faith and prayer.
Practical Steps for Your Strong Prayer Life
You need a dedicated time. If you do not schedule a time, you’re not going to do it. Get up early if you have to and make time for yourself to pray. Prayer is more important than even working out or eating right. I mean, you should do all those things, but prayer is something you never want to neglect. Start with 15 minutes or 30 minutes—but you have to schedule it. If you don’t give it a time, it’s not going to happen.
There also has to be a place. When you’re in that place, something happens—you know that when you’re there, you’re going to pray. It is a place where you seek the Lord.
You have to be consistent. There will be times in your prayer life when nothing seems to happen. You’re praying and feel like you’re talking to the walls. “God, are you there?” He is there. You’re being obedient. You’re being consistent. You’re being faithful. And there will be times when you get into your prayer time, because you’ve been consistent, and God says, “I’ve got something for you.”
Honor it and prioritize it. Go to sleep at a decent time so you can wake up at a decent time to pray. If you were praying in a comfy chair and kept falling asleep, get up and walk around. Turn on the light and stand up, because you’re not going to fall asleep when you’re standing. Prayer is so important—honor it by doing what you need to do to stay awake and engaged.
Finally, do your talking and do your listening. Prayer is a conversation with the Lord, but the other piece is listening. We don’t always listen enough because the Lord is trying to tell us something, trying to give us something, and we’re just rattling off our requests. And God’s saying, “Hey, can you just be still for a second? I want to talk to you. I’ve got something for you.”
When you feel the Lord speaking to you, write it down in a prayer journal. First of all, it should never go against the Bible or contradict anything in the Word of God. If you’re married, your spouse should agree with it. Start paying attention. Being led by the Holy Spirit is so important. What God is telling you will start coming up in other things—when you read the Bible, when you’re driving and the Lord gives you something, in prayer the next day, or in a conversation. Listen to what the Lord is telling you, but make sure it truly is the Lord.
Take Your Strong Prayer Life to the Next Level
Prayer is simple and prayer is hard. Anyone can do it. You can pray anywhere—on the tallest mountain in the world or in the lowest deep of the deep, walking freely in your neighborhood or locked up in jail with the key thrown away. The sad part is that many don’t. There are a lot of believers who don’t pray. But prayer is so worth it. Prayer is so necessary. Through Jesus’ examples, we can see how much He valued it. And if He valued it, we should value it as well.
This week, take some time to evaluate your prayer life. Some who hear this will need to start their prayer life—start out with 15 minutes, get up early. Some who hear this have a prayer life that needs to be taken seriously because all it is now is a wish list without really listening to what the Lord would have. Some will need to revamp the way they’re praying and change it up so their prayer time doesn’t become stale like they’re just going through the motions. Either way, as a believer, take some time to evaluate your prayer life and take it to the next level with Jesus.
Peace,
Todd